Winner Announcement: Collateral Landscape Award

The inspiration for this award was Canadian artist David Milne. Recognised as one of the countries most prolific painters, Milne originally began studying and painting in New York, but soon became disillusioned with the urban lifestyle and moved to Boston Commons with his wife.

His time there was interrupted with the outbreak of World War 1. In 1917 he reported for basic training in Toronto, was stationed in Quebec and then quarantined in England for a month, which happened to be during the end of the war. Due to his artistic background he was commissioned as a war artist, travelling to France and Belgium to paint images of the battlefields.

Milne was influenced greatly by time and place. The difference between his artistry in New York, Boston Commons and the battle fields of Europe is clear to see. Milne always sort to establish himself within his environment, searching for inspiration and meaning, adopting an almost zen like approach to artistic creation.

He was also a prolific writer.

This evolution continued in the post war years, where he returned to Boston Commons and lived and worked there until 1929. From there, he moved to Canada and focused on rural and wildness areas around Temagami, Weston and Palgrave. Separating from his wife in 1933, he moved to Port Severn in Ontario. Here, he achieved some degree of mainstream success, selling works to art patrons.

Milne would later remarry and have a son. Perhaps influenced by raising a child, he would turn his eye towards more fantastic and whimsical works, though he still painted the Canadian landscape.

Milne died in hospital in Bancroft, Ontario on December 26, 1953 after suffering several strokes. Among artists and critics, he remains one of Canada’s most influential artists.

Winner Annoucement

In the Collateral Landscape Award, we asked you to write a story about blasted landscapes, sacrificial grounds and environments tortured by man.

We welcomed a number of newcomers on this shortlist. Izzie Rose, Harshita Lall and Emily Tan all joined NiTH with fantastic short stories. We hope to see more for each author over the coming months.

They were joined by Sachin Sharma, who continues to push personal boundaries in 2018, and Rebecca Hadland, who has returned with a flurry of shortlisted stories, having not been listed since 2014’s Mystery of the Cellar Door Award (Rebecca please let me know if that wasn’t you!)

It was a closely contested award, but once the votes were all in, a clear winner had emerged.

On debut, please congratulate Emily Tan for her incredible winning entry, The Nameless!

Congratulations Emily and well done to all our shortlisted authors. A special thanks to the panel of jury judges who helped out with this award. We still have a few empty seats on the jury pool at the moment, so if you have an hour or two to spare every few weeks and would like to volunteer as a judge, let us know.

For now, you can check out the newest awards and latest shortlists on the homepage.